A Curse Upon Humanity
by AfroThunda
Summary: An evil organization, once thought eradicated, has returned. With the power of the Grimm at their disposal, their victory seems imminent, and the world is in great peril. Only a select few may be able to save it. But with a forbidden power slowly consuming them, and with society having labeled them the enemy, can they save it time? Can they save their selves in time?
1. The Assignment

**Soooooooooo….this is my first fanfiction. To be quite honest, I'm rather nervous about attempting to write one, but I figured that it would be good practice for writing. Depending on how well received this is on the first few chapters, I may continue writing this. If not, oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Anyway, let the story begin! **

_It was supposed to be a simple investigation. An investigation in which there would be minimal danger. The danger expectancy was so small that all that was believed to be needed were two first-year students. Unfortunately, no one could have anticipated what would happen on that ill-fated mission. No one could have believed that it would have gone so wrong._

Ozpin had expected to have a normal, relaxing day when he awoke from his slumber this morning. The Sunday sky was a beautiful and vivid shade of blue, the air was full of the lingering and pleasant smell of dew developed overnight, and the birds sang their captivating chorus that intensified the relaxing atmosphere. It was a morning in which Ozpin had planned to spend doing paperwork in his office, sipping coffee out of his trademark mug, and offering students advice and consolation if they needed it. As Ozpin completed his morning rituals, he began to finish paper work pertaining to the missions he would often send his students on. Ozpin had always adamantly believed that experience was the best teacher. Classwork and simulations could only take a student so far. If you could not utilize what you have learned in a real-life situation, than no amount of schoolwork could shape you into a respectable hunter. As a way to give the students the hands-on experience they needed, to offer protection to the people in need, and a way to earn funding for the school, he would assign his students missions requested by clients throughout Vytal.

There was one thing that Ozpin had always treasured in this world above all else, and that was the safety and well-being of his students. However, due to the nature of the lessons taught to the young men and women who attend Beacon Academy, there were bound to be times in which safety and security were luxuries that they could not afford. Such is the life of a huntsman and huntress, individuals who have dedicated their lives to hunting and eradicating the evil that plagues the world known as Grim. Ozpin accepted this, and he expected his students to accept it as well. However, this did not stop Ozpin from at least reducing the amount of risks his students take. Although he was slightly harsh, he was fair as well. This was evident in how many precautions he would take before he would send a team of students out on a mission.

Students were usually grouped into teams of four after initiation into Beacon was completed. But there were times in which teams were separated to complete more missions than they could as a whole. This was the situation for teams RWBY and JNPR, promising first-year teams that consisting of talented and skilled teenagers. Both teams were well-known and well respected in Beacon. This is mostly due to the astonishing results of their initiation. Both teams had encountered two gargantuan and high-level Grim during their initiation; a Nevermore and a Deathstalker. Nevermore were gigantic Grim akin to ravens, and Deathstalkers were large scorpion-like Grim. Both types of Grim were so dangerous that even the most experienced of hunters have difficulties killing them. However, as inexperienced as the two teams were, they showed skill and teamwork well beyond their years and destroyed both of the destructive monsters. This was mostly due to the strategy and leadership of the leaders of each team, Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc.

Ozpin thought highly of the two young hunters in training. Ruby is the youngest student Beacon has ever accepted in its history. Although she is slightly immature, she shows great promise as a huntress and as a leader. Ozpin had even recruited her personally after seeing her attempt to stop a robbery by the notorious criminal Roman Torchwick. Jaune Arc was an interesting individual as well. Despite sneaking his way into Beacon with fake manuscripts and not receiving the proper training required to graduate, much less enter, Beacon, he proved to be a superb strategist and had improved considerably as a student.

As Ozpin contemplated the two students, his thought had come to an abrupt halt as his eyes caught a manila folder lying on the far top left corner of his desk. The collection of papers inside the folder were detailed reports detailing a mission he had yet to assign anyone. Truth be told, he would had preferred that he not send anyone on the dangerous assignment. The danger surrounding the mission was abnormally high, but it was of the utmost importance. Disregarding it would be highly irresponsible on his part. As he fretted over the difficult subject occupying his thoughts, his thoughts once again had reverted back to the subject of Ruby and Jaune. Perhaps they were the solution to his problem.

With much consideration, Ozpin had selected the two students for this assignment, due to the rest of their respective teammates being sent away on their own assignments. Ruby easily possessed enough skill to combat a threat should it be so unlucky to cross her path, and while Jaune was not as much of a skilled fighter as Ruby, he certainly compensated for his weaknesses with his cunning and wit. Ozpin believed they would be more than enough for this assignment.

_(Team JNPR's Dorm)_

To put it simply, Jaune was extremely bored. He was currently laying face-down on his bunk bed without anything to do. After completing all of his classwork and training, he casually crashed on top of his sheets, not at all caring that he had messed up the sheets. Usually, there was always something for the leader of JNPR to do. But today was one of the days that he was alone in the room he shared with his teammates. Due to recent increase in Grim activity, Beacon's teams had begun accepting more missions, but there was only so much a single unit could accomplish. This led to teams being divided temporarily in order to complete more assignments, as long as the headmaster believed it to be easy enough for one or two students to complete. However, Jaune was currently the only one in his team that had not been given an assignment yet.

Without his teammates, Jaune was beginning to realize how lonely the four-man room was. Without his teammates to socialize with, the room was uncomfortably silent and lifeless. On days like these, he would be studying for classes and training with his partner, Pyrrha Nikos, but she wasn't scheduled to return for the next few days. Even his other two teammates, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, were sent on a mission with one another and were scheduled to return a day later then Pyrrha. So what would he do for the next few days? He needed to do _something _to occupy his time. If he didn't get an assignment or think of someone to spend the day with, he was going to die of boredom!

As if to answering his prayers, there was a light, but rapid, knocking on his door.

"Coming!" Jaune had all but shouted too eagerly. Finally, thank Dust! If he was to die, he certainly didn't want to die in such a humiliating manner.

After bouncing to the door in joy, he opened the door to greet, and maybe thank, the person who had rescued him from a boring weekend. He was greeted with the sight of his close friend, Ruby.

"Hiya Jaune!" Ruby greeted with an energetic wave, to which Jaune reciprocated with his trademark grin.

"_Of course! How could I have forgotten about Ruby! Her team was gone too!" _Jaune thought as he mentally reprimanded himself.

Ruby and Jaune had been each other's first friends upon entering Beacon. Despite Jaune not making the best presentation of himself, which involved him puking on Ruby's sister's boots, and Ruby presenting herself to be a slight klutz, the two had become fast friends. And although the two had ended up being assigned to different teams, they still found plenty of time to spend with one another, especially since teams RWBY and JNPR often hung out with each other anyway. If Ruby and Jaune were not attending to their leadership duties or class work, they were often seen doing entertaining activities with one another, activities such as sparring matches, board games, movies, and video games. This led the rest of their teams believing them to be an item, an assumption Ruby and Jaune would adamantly deny with stuttering voices and red tinting their cheeks.

"Hey Ruby. I'm glad you showed up."Jaune greeted while he leaned on the door.

"Really, why's that?" She questioned while tilting her head to the right, a quirk of hers Jaune had noticed whenever she was curious.

"Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren left yesterday, so I've been kind of lonely today."

"Wow, I can't imagine how quiet it must get without Nora around."

It was true. Out of their group of friends, Nora was the most wild, loud, and insane, but no day was boring if Nora had anything to say about it. Most of her shenanigans would involve pranking team CRDL, a team full of bullies that had caused problems for Jaune many times. Sometimes, she would sneak into team CRDL's dorm and booby-trap their room when they were asleep. The most famous prank involved a mouse traps, super glue, and each of their crotches.

"So do you wanna come inside? We could play the Xbox again. I want a rematch from last weekend!"

Through a fit of giggles she tried to suppress with her fist, Ruby replied, "As much as I would like to hand you your ass again in Halo, I didn't come to play. Professor Ozpin messaged us to meet in his office."

"Really? What for?"

"Well, since all of our teammates are gone, I would guess we have a mission." Ruby deduced.

"Alright, just let me go get my sword and shield, and then we can go." Jaune said as he turned to retrieve his weapons from under the bed. He always felt more secure sleeping within the vicinity of his weapons.

"Don't you mean your heirlooms?" She teased with a smirk.

So Ruby wanted to play that game huh? Challenge accepted!

"At least it's not farming equipment!"

All Jaune heard as a comeback was the oh-so-familiar click of a sniper rifle. Maybe Jaune had gone a bit far…

"What was that Arc?" She questioned menacingly. Jaune did not dare turn his back and make eye contact.

"Nothing!" whimpered Jaune as he collected his stuff more quickly as to not enrage Ruby further. If there was one thing you did not do around Ruby, it was speak of her beloved scythe, Crescent Rose, in a derogatory manner. **EVER.**

_(Ozpin's Office)_

While Ozpin was reviewing the report, just in case he had missed something, he was interrupted by a light and gentle knocking. No doubt it was Ruby and Jaune.

"Enter." He gently commanded.

As the two students entered the headmaster's office, they couldn't help but notice the abnormally large collections of paperwork on his desk. They had known about the increasing activity of Grim recently, but judging from the amount of paperwork collected on the professor's desk, it may have been worse than they originally thought.

"Good morning Mr. Arc and Ms. Rose." He greeted politely.

"Good morning sir." They reciprocated the same pleasantries.

"I assume you know why I sent for you." He said as he was pouring himself a glass of coffee.

"Do you have a mission for us, sir?" Ruby questioned, once again tilting her head to the right.

"Precisely. Although, I must admit, I was quite hesitant to assign you this mission. Even if it is a simple investigation." After Ozpin finished pouring his coffee, he offered the two students a cup. An offer they both politely declined. Ruby often tried to avoid caffeine out of fear that it would stunt her growth. No one but her sister and Jaune knew, but she was rather self-conscious about her height. Jaune simply did not want to put anything in his stomach. If one thing was certain, if he was assigned a mission, then he would most definitely be riding the airship to wherever he was sent. He would certainly suffer motion sickness again.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Jaune questioned

Ozpin exhaled a large and heavy sigh before reaching into a shelf in his desk. After locating what he sought, he presented them with the manila folder containing the report. It was fairly thick, as proven by the loud thump it made as it made contact with the desk as Ozpin dropped it in front of them.

"Two days ago, I received information from Professor Goodwitch pertaining to a village that is currently in a state of panic and paranoia. The village has been recently attacked by Beowolves. The attack on the village consisted of approximately ten Beowolves, not enough to pose an immense danger to a hunter, but definitely to a small town with little offensive capabilities. Twenty-nine people were injured, sixteen people are missing and believed to be dead, and ten people were confirmed dead with mutilated and half eaten corpses as evidence."

Although they had found the report to be slightly morbid, they did not quite understand Ozpin's great concern for their well-being. They were more than enough to handle a few Beowolves. Had they done something to place doubt in his mind concerning their abilities?

" How did only ten Beowolves manage to do so much damage?" Jaune questioned

Beowolves were currently the weakest type of Grim discovered. In small numbers, they were enemies even normal militiamen could eliminate. It was true that their danger lied in their numbers, but it was very peculiar that such a small group could decimate a village to the extent that Ozpin had described.

Setting aside his coffee, he delivered his answer with the utmost seriousness, "These were not your average Beowolves."

With their curiosity aroused, the two first-years went silent so that Ozpin could continue.

"Tell me, what separates humanity from the Grim besides the Grim lacking a soul?" Ozpin riddled.

Ruby and Jaune could only glance at each other in confusion, wondering if the other had an answer. Ruby had looked absolutely clueless, but as she observed Jaune, she noticed that he began to stare blankly into space. This was something he would do often when formulating a solution or comprising an answer. With a sudden flash of satisfaction etched on his face, he faced Ozpin again.

"They can't reason. They act purely on instinct like animals. So as a result, they can't strategize."

Ozpin could not help but smile at his student's insightful answer. "Precisely Mr. Arc, the Grim, especially Beowolves, are notorious for their simple-minded offensive tactics. But these Beowolves demonstrated strategy and intelligence never seen from a Grim before. This leads me to two possible conclusions. One: They are an evolved species, and two: They are being controlled."

Ozpin ascended from his chair after finishing, walking towards the two students with unparalleled grace. To Ruby's and Jaune's surprise, he placed a gentle but firm grip on each of their shoulders while establishing direct eye contact with both of them.

"To be quite honest, I don't feel comfortable sending even two of my students into a situation I know so little about. There are still many blanks that I cannot fill without more information. But I believe in both of you."

To say that Ruby and Jaune were flattered was a gross understatement. They held great respect for the headmaster. He was one of Ruby's personal role models, and Jaune had aspired to live up to the huntsman's example whenever he possibly could. To receive such a generous compliment from him was immensely delighting.

"But I need to make something abundantly clear." His grip tightened as the tone of his voice deepened. He had shifted from a passive and calm teacher to a no-nonsense commander with a glare that commanded nothing but complete obedience, an action that had greatly unsettled Ruby and Jaune "If you believe that you are in a level of danger you cannot handle yourself, even for a second, you let me know immediately. I do not want any unnecessary heroics from either of you. Do you understand?"

Desiring nothing more than to gain distance from the intimidating beast that had replaced their headmaster; they enthusiastically gave the best typical army salute they could perform.

"Yes sir!" They shouted with looks with pure terror plain on their face.

And as quick as it arrived, the predatory animal had vanished and was replaced with the comforting teacher they were accustomed to, much to their relief.

"Excellent" he acknowledged with a smile as he released their slightly irritated shoulders. "Now then, any questions, comments, or concerns?"

"Yes, when do we start?" Ruby asked with a grin of excitement growing on the side of her mouth.

The feeling of excitement was not mutual, as Jaune had been admittedly intimidated by the report. If there was one thing Jaune had admired about his friend, it was her unparalleled courage, a quality Jaune felt that he sorely lacked. She was always ready to charge the next challenge head on with no hesitation. Maybe one day, he would grow to be as fearless as her, and not scream like the fairer sex when approached by an intimidating enemy.

With pride in his smile while gently placing the manila folder in Ruby's long and slender arms, Ozpin calmly replied, "Immediately."

**Whelp, that's it for now. The next chapter is where I write the action scene, so thanks for reading! Read and Review! Your opinions would be greatly appreciated.**


	2. The Polite Assailant

**Thanks for the reviews and advice guys! I really appreciate it! Especially to my first reviewer Starlighz and my supportive friend boris-the-red. **

Ever since Ruby and Jaune boarded the private, auto-pilot airship Professor Ozpin allowed them to use; Ruby had been reading the report diligently for herself. She would have asked Jaune if he wanted to read it with her, but not even a full minute after the airship took off, he immediately sprinted to the nearest bathroom, much to Ruby's amusement.

Ruby would know, she timed Jaune with her scroll.

"You couldn't even last one minute?!" Ruby teased towards the bathroom door through a fit of laughter.

As Jaune was hunched over the toilet, he shouted, "Shut up Ru-buuurrrrgg!" before he was interrupted by a stream of dirt-brown vomit bursting from his mouth. This sent her into an even harder fit of laughter that forced her to lean against the wall to steady herself.

After regaining her ability to breath, she started to get slightly worried for her friend. All she could hear from the other side of the door were moans of misery and the occasional cough.

"Is there anything I can do?" As much as she enjoyed teasing Jaune, she still cared about his well-being, so she would often try to alleviate his suffering anyway she could.

"Could you get me some mouthwash please?" he groaned, not risking lifting his head away from the toilet in case another surprise burst of puke would spew.

"Okay, I'll be in the seats when you're done."

After she turned the ship's storage room upside-down looking for a bottle of mouthwash for her friend, Ruby took a seat near the front of the ship next to the window to continue reading the report.

The report was very detailed and informative, even supplying pictures of the Beowolves that were responsible for the carnage that ravaged the village. As far as she could tell, the Beowolves did not look any different from average ones. But she learned a long time ago that looks could be deceiving. One piece of information that had caught Ruby's eye was the description of the Alpha Beowolf, the pack leader. The Alpha was seen barking orders to its subordinates from atop the various buildings.

"_Wow, I've never seen a Beowolf do that. They really are intelligent._

As she was focusing heavily on the papers on her lap, flipping through pages and formulating plans in case they would encounter the beasts; her scroll began shouting _"Come At Me! And You'll See! I'm More Than Meets The Eye!" _

With a yelp of surprise, Ruby launched herself out of her seat, startled by the booming volume that was abruptly blasting out of her pocket.

"_Dammit! Why can't I ever remember to turn the freaking volume down on this!?"_ Ruby reprimanded herself as she ripped the scroll out of the pocket in her hood.

"_Wait. That's "I Burn". Yang must be calling!" _Ruby ecstatically thought. Ruby wasted no time yanking the scroll open. It showed an enlarged picture of Yang blowing an exaggerated raspberry at the camera. Under the picture was a blinking rectangle that was flashing the word "Calling".

When Ruby pressed the "Pick-Up" button, the video chat activated and showed Yang smiling and waving. From what Ruby could see, the area Yang was in was teaming with trees and shrubbery.

"Hey little sis!" Yang greeted with joy radiating from her voice.

Ruby had missed her sister deeply since she was sent away last week. They had never been separated for so long since they were both in team RWBY. The two siblings loved each other deeply, if Ruby wasn't busy doing things with Jaune, she was almost guaranteed to be getting into mischief with Yang. Suffice to say, Ruby had been suffering sisterly withdrawals.

"Yang! How have you been? I missed you! Did you miss me? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, easy Ruby!" Yang intervened, ceasing Ruby's consistent series of questions.

"I'm fine, and yes, I've missed you." Yang assured her as she sat comfortably on the bleeding corpse of an Ursa she beat to death. She made sure to drop the lifeless husk under the shade of a tree as she relaxed from a hard day's work.

"So, how are things back home? Are Blake and Weiss getting along over there?" Yang asked, hoping the two had not come to another grievous disagreement while she was gone.

"Actually, they left the day after you did, but they were getting along just fine." Ruby informed.

Much to Ruby's surprise and Blake's approval, Weiss started becoming much more open-minded when it concerned the Faunus. While she did still resent the White Fang to a degree, she had moved past associating every Faunus with them. One time when Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were out shopping for supplies while Yang was away on her mission, they encountered a group of thugs surrounding a terrified Faunus woman with dog ears with the intention of mugging her, or worse. Ruby and Blake had immediately reached for their weapons to incapacitate the despicable low-lives. But before they even touched their weapons, Weiss had already swooped down upon the thugs and beat them into bloody pulps of unconsciousness. After she was done with them, she immediately went to console the shivering woman, hugging her and whispering soothing words into her ear. Ruby and Blake could only stare dumfounded until Weiss shouted at them, commanding them to call the police. This greatly improved Blake's opinion of her and relations between the ninja and the heiress have never been better.

"That's good, but you must be getting lonely over there, huh?" Yang knew that her sister wasn't the most social of individuals, but she knew that Ruby loathed being alone for an extended period of time.

"Nope! I got sent on a mission this morning with Jaune."As Ruby replied to Yang's incorrect assumption, Yang could not help but notice how merrily Ruby had said it.

"Oh, _I_ see. Guess I don't have to worry about you being lonely, do I? I guess I know what _you _and Jaune do when the rest of the team is gone." Yang said through a Cheshire smile. Her lilac colored eyes were filmed to the brim with mischief Ruby could see as plain as day.

"Yaaaaaang!" Ruby whined as her face's complexion began to match that of her signature hood.

No matter how much Ruby would deny it and no matter how many mental exercises she completed to convince herself otherwise, Yang knew that Ruby had a crush on "Vomit Boy". Everyone knew it. The only person who was completely oblivious to that fact was the blundering knight himself. With that in mind, Yang never passed up an opportunity to tease her baby sister concerning her crush.

"Did you at least keep it out of our dorm? I'm not gonna have to spray the room down when I get home, will I?" Yang teased, reveling in Ruby's embarrassment.

"Can we change the topic please?!" Ruby screamed, hoping to stop Yang before she continued.

"Fine fine, so where are you and Vomit Boy heading anyway? And what type of mission is it?" Yang questioned, deciding to stop teasing her and abide by her sister's wishes…..for now.

Hoping to avoid anymore teasing, Ruby gave her a complete description of their task, explaining everything from the village's condition to the Beowolves responsible.

Yang was not pleased at all. Her little sister was being sent to a possibly hostile environment with only one teammate, and while she liked Jaune and all, she had very little faith in his abilities, even if he has improved over the months.

"Ruby, I can't say that I'm comfortable with this at all." Yang said with discontent evident in her voice.

"Why's that. Is something wrong?" Ruby questioned, wondering what was bothering her sister.

"I just don't like that Professor Ozpin sent you on a mission like this without a full team backing you up." Superior or no, Yang was going to have a little talk with the headmaster when she returned.

"It's just an investigation mission," Ruby assured, trying to soothe Yang's discomfort, "and besides, he ordered us to call for back-up if we believed we needed it."

"If it's just supposed to be an investigation, why is he sending two of you?"

"Beowolves are nomadic; the chances of us encountering them are very small since they attacked over two days ago. He's just trying to be careful." Said Ruby, trying to defend her headmaster.

But Yang was not having any of it. If her little sister was going on this mission, she was gonna at least have **one **competent teammate.

"Hey Ruby, what's the name of the village and what time should you arrive there." Yang interrogated

Not understanding the purpose behind her questions, she decided to just answer the questions.

" Yagsara Village, and we should be there in about four and a half hours. Why do you ask?"

As Ruby was reciting the name, Yang was checking her map that was installed in her scroll.

"_Yagsara…Yagsara…Oh, there it is."_ Yang thought as she located the small territory. It was a good ways away from any major cities, so it was no wonder that Yang had never heard of it.

"_Let's see, judging from my current location, if I move fast, I should get there about half an hour before they do." _Yang calculated, reminding herself to thank Blake for teaching her how to judge distance over time.

"I'm gonna meet you there when you get there. I'll be helping you with this." Yang declared while jumping up off her "chair" and wiping any stray fur off of her rump.

Nothing was changing her mind. She wanted to make absolutely sure that Ruby would be okay.

"Are you sure about this? Don't you have a mission you should be on?" Although Ruby would love to be with Yang again, she didn't want to interfere with her duties either.

"Relax Ruby, I finished an hour ago. I'll see-"

Before Yang could finish her sentence, Ruby's connection to her had been instantly terminated, showing a black screen where the video feed of her sister had once been.

"Yang? Yang?!" She called out, rapidly clicking the "Re-Connect" button, but to no avail.

"_What happened? I hope she's okay…" _

Having given up on re-establishing a connection after two minutes of failure, she put the scroll back in her pocket, making sure to turn down the volume to a reasonable level this time, and hoped that Yang would call back later.

She was so pre-occupied with the distressing thoughts of her sister that she didn't notice Jaune sit next to her.

Jaune called her name three times, but ceased when he noticed the frown on her focused face.

"Hey, you okay?" Jaune questioned while gently shaking her shoulder, genuinely concerned for her.

Lightly jumping from the unexpected physical contact breaking her thoughts, Ruby finally noticed the object of her affections speaking to her.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it." Ruby assured him, giving him the most convincing smile she could muster.

Jaune had seen Ruby smile enough times to know when her smiles were fakes. It was painfully obvious that she was lying, and as much as he would like to help her with whatever was disturbing her, he trusted her enough to tell him when she was ready. So he simply left it alone.

"Oh yeah, Yang's gonna be joining us when we get to the village. You don't mind do you?" Ruby asked as she put the reports in Jaune's bag for safe-keeping.

"Of course not, I'm glad for the extra help."Jaune skeptically chuckled.

As much as he liked the idea of backup, he was slightly put off by Yang. He didn't hate her; he actually enjoyed her company despite the constant onslaught of teasing he would receive from her. It was just that she would always send him a venomous glare whenever he got close to Ruby. He didn't know what he did to offend her concerning Ruby, and wanted to confront her about it, but his fear for his physical health and his "boys" prevented him from doing so.

Eager to change the subject, Jaune asked, "So how long is it till we get there?" He had hoped that it wouldn't be long before he could return to the holy sanctuary that he called "land".

In response to his question, Ruby giggled while reaching into her pocket, pulling out the mouthwash she had retrieved, and gently put it in his hands, knowing the intent behind his question.

"Sorry Jaune, you've got at least four and a half hours before we land."

"Dammit!"

_(Elsewhere)_

He had thought that his assignment would be simple. Find the girl, capture the girl, and bring her back alive. It sounded easy enough, until he had begun observing the buxom blonde ever since she had entered the forest yesterday. Half of his mission was to observe her and gauge how strong she was, so in an attempt to do that, he sent one of his Alpha Ursas to engage her in combat, and possibly knock her out to save him the effort. But when he watched the fight he had instigated, his hopes for a relatively trouble-free mission had been obliterated, much like the poor Ursa. At first, the fight had been fairly even. The two matched each other blow-for-blow, but that changed instantly when the Ursa clipped a strand of her golden mane when it swiped at her with its enormous claws. As soon as she noticed the single strand of yellow on the ground, the girl roared with rage and erupted into a cyclone of fire and verbal vulgarity. The girl then proceeded to assault the poor creature, pummeling it for a full two minutes with her shotgun propelled punches, and then proceeded to rip its spine out of its anus. Having acquired her gruesome weapon of choice, she began to wrap the spine around its massive throatand pulled on it with all her might, robbing the poor creature of its ability to breathe. She did not stop until the Ursa had given one final twitch, and then remained still as it slipped into death's cold embrace.

The assassin was a man of logic. He had little room in his heart for fickle and illogical things like emotion. He had abandoned his ability to feel a long time ago. But it was at that moment that he began to feel an emotion that he had not felt in a very long time.

Fear.

This was an adversary not to be trifled with. If possible, he would attempt to avoid unnecessary conflict with the blonde behemoth all together. But for that to be possible, he would have to find a way to distract her so that he could move in and knock her out. A quick, sharp chop to the back of the head would suffice.

As he observed her from the cliff overlooking the forest the woman was in, he noticed her take out a scroll and begin to make a phone call as she used his deceased minion's corpse as a chair.

"Perfect" he whispered

He could not have asked for a better distraction. That scroll would serve swimmingly as a distraction. As long as he could close the distance between them without alerting her, he could end this mission sooner than he thought. With that in mind, he stealthily leaped off the cliff and landed on top of a tree with enough greenery to conceal him. After jumping from tree to tree, he stopped at the tree the buxom blonde had been resting under. He had made sure to position himself directly above her.

He could have initiated his plan right then and there, but had decided against it. He couldn't help but ease drop on the girl's conversation after he had learned that the blonde was speaking with her sister. Most people would have accused him of wasting time, but he believed in learning as much as he could about his opponent. It was a lesson that had served him well in his life as an assassin. Even though he was not killing his target in this situation, the same principles applied. Knowing your target, inside and out, was key.

"Hey Ruby, what's the name of the village and what time should you arrive there." The blonde had asked, with a slight edge to her voice that he had picked up on.

" _Yagsara Village, and we should be there in about four and a half hours. Why do you ask?" _questioned the sister through the scroll.

"_Now this is interesting. Why would she be asking about Yagsara?"_ he wondered.

"I'm gonna meet you there when you get there. I'll be helping you with this." Yang affirmed with finality.

So that was it. The village had most likely called Beacon for assistance after the Beowolves had been sent on their test run. He would need to report this to his master after he was done here. If these other two hunters were as skilled as this one, then they could further complicate things for tonight's plan.

It looked liked the blonde was finishing her conversation. Now was the time.

Concentrating his aura, he raised the palm of his hand to align it with the scroll in the girl's hand.

_(Yang)_

"Relax Ruby, I finished an hour ago. I'll see-"before she could finish her sentence, the scroll's screen flashed a rapid series of colors, spitting sparks in all directions, blinding Yang and causing her to drop it while she covered her eyes to avoid any further damage.

"Son of a bitch!" she screamed vulgarly as she furiously rubbed her eyes attempting to ease the aching sensation in them.

Having no idea what had happened, she inspected her scroll that was at her feet.

The piece of equipment was completely destroyed. Its screen was shattered, the silver casing was charred black, and there were visible streams of smoke arising from the burnt remains. But what caught her eye was the reflection off of one of the shards of the destroyed screen.

Something was descending upon her from behind, and **quickly!**

With agility and reflexes developed from years of her huntress training, she shot her shot-gauntlets at an angle towards the ground and propelled herself away from her current position, dodging the assailant's attack by the skin of her teeth. Landing on her feet about ten feet away, she immediately began to inspect the bastard who had the balls to try and sneak attack her.

The man was a little bit taller than her and although he appeared to be skinny, she could see developed muscle poking through the dark blue combat suit he was wearing. He was equipped with what appeared to be a katana that was sheathed and strapped on his back securely. Much to Yang's annoyance, she could not get a good look at his face, due to the dark blue hood he was wearing that was attached to his suit. He looked as if he had just threw a punch, so it was safe to assume that it was him that caused her scroll to implode the way it did to distract her.

"Hey! What's your freaking problem?!" Yang shouted at the mysterious man, angered that he had just attacked her.

Ignoring her question, the man had shifted into his fighting stance, keeping his right foot forward as well as his right fist.

"My apologies, but I have orders to capture you and bring you in to my superiors. If you come willingly, we can avoid any unnecessary conflict and/or injuries. Please surrender yourself in a calm and submissive manner, ma'am." The hooded man spoke with the most tranquil voice Yang had ever heard. It was like he had said it many times before. She could only stare unbelievingly at the bizarre man.

"You destroy my scroll, knock me out, and now you're trying to capture me. And you wanna make requests?! Fuck you!" Yang screamed while raising her middle finger at the man.

"If you think that I'm gonna just let you take me, you've got another thing coming!" she shouted as she reloaded Ember Cilica, ready to fight.

"I figured you would say that, but I didn't want to make assumptions." He replied.

"Before we begin, its common courtesy for two opponents to make introductions before engaging in combat. My name is Johansen." He greeted politely.

Astonished by the manners her enemy was presenting, she decided to entertain him.

"Yang Xiao Long." She half-heartedly replied as she reciprocated his greeting, with eyes narrowed and focused.

"It is an honor to fight such a worthy opponent, Ms. Xiao Long. Let us begin."

The two remained still as stone for minutes as the wind gently caressed their motionless forms, waiting for the other to make the first move, but with Yang possessing the least amount of patience between the two, she began to fire her gauntlets rapidly at Johansen hoping she would land at least one shot. Showing grace and flexibility as he quickly closed the distance between him and Yang, Johansen had expertly dodged all of the screaming Aura spheres she launched at him. Now that he was close, he could engage Yang on her home turf; close combat.

He swiftly threw a barrage of powerful and precise punches aimed at her face and chest, all of which Yang had either blocked or dodged. Unwilling to let up, Johansen attempted a sweeping kick in an effort to kick her legs out and trip her, but Yang anticipated this and leaped over the appendage before it could make contact with hers. Before she landed back on the ground, she aimed a swift kick at the side Johansen's face. It met its mark and sent Johansen tumbling away a good five meters before he managed to fling himself back up toward Yang's direction, hoping to stop her before she sent another series of shots at him.

When Johansen got close enough, she hurled herself towards him, jumping in the air and swinging a round-house kick towards his face. Narrowly dodging the leather boot that had grazed the right side of his hood, he grabbed Yang's other leg and began to swing her around and around until he released his grip and sent her speeding through the air, twirling towards the same tree she had been resting under before the fight. Her flight was abruptly halted as her back made direct contact with the trunk of the tree which elicited a yelp of pain from Yang, a sharp cracking sound from the trunk, and a wet popping sound from her back. As she sunk from the trunk to the ground moaning in pain, she immediately began to feel her Aura repair the painful injury inflicted on her back and began to get back on her feet. Seeing the blue blur that was her adversary jet towards her, she propelled herself in his direction with the intention to meet him half-way.

As soon as the streaks of yellow and blue met, they began a fast paced cycle of punches, kicks, and counter-attacks. The two were moving so quickly and fighting so ferociously that every blow thrown created a gust of wind that was so powerful it was bending the trees surrounding them.

As Yang swung at Johansen, firing her right gauntlet for extra measure, Johansen leaped over her fist and kicked her left cheek in the process. Refusing to be staggered, she grabbed the foot attached to her cheek and began slamming him into the ground repeatedly.

"HOW! DO! YOU! LIKE! THIS!" Yang growled through her teeth, slamming him into the ground with more force after every word.

As Johansen was being flung around by Yang, he shoved his hand into his pocket, ripping out a throwing knife. With expert precision, he sent the knife flying into the shoulder of the arm she was using to grab his leg. With a sudden shriek of pain as the knife penetrated her shoulder, she released her grip mid-swing, sending Johansen flying into the air far away from her into a tree. As soon as he landed onto the highest branch, he rebounded towards her with his fists tightened.

Gritting her teeth in pain and frustration, Yang tore the blade out of her shoulder and chucked it into the bushes. When she saw that Johansen was once again zooming in her direction, she soared into the air towards Johansen using Ember Cilica. As soon as they met in the air, the foes began exchanging blows and matching each other while doing so. Their punches and kicks slammed into one another quickly and forcefully. Even after they had landed they were engaged in their vicious dance, determined to land a solid hit on the other.

As Johansen threw his fist at Yang's face, she crouched, letting the fist sail over her head. Taking advantage of the opening that presented itself as he missed his punch, Yang delivered the swiftest rising kick she could into the bottom of Johansen's jaw, sending him soaring twenty meters into the air above her. Wasting no time, Yang slammed her knuckles together, unleashing her Aura. Her eyes had instantly bled from a beautiful and soothing violet into a menacing and intimidating crimson red. The entirety of her body ignited and exploded into bright-orange flames as her golden locks flapped wildly due to the ferocity of the flames that had consumed her. Aiming to end this fight, Yang fired herself into the air behind Johansen, landing a fifteen-hit air combo into his arms, ribs, and head using the last of her rounds in Ember Cilica and her Aura enhanced punches. Finally, she brought the heel of her flame consumed foot on top of his head with as much force as she possibly could, launching him down into the forest at break-neck speed. His blazing body shot through the air like a cannonball, making impact with solid ground and creating an enormous shock wave that uprooted every tree within a twenty meter radius. A giganticdust cloud enveloped the area and the massive crater his body created upon impact with the ground.

Immediately after landing from her aerial attack, Yang swapped magazines and steeled herself while keeping direct eye contact with the enormous plume of dirt.

(Johansen)

This was not going well. He had hoped that in engaging Ms. Xiao Long in close combat, he could beat her into unconsciousness without damaging her _too _much, but it had become** painfully** obvious that he was out-classed by this woman in terms of hand-to-hand fighting. He was suffering second-degree burns on various parts of his body, the sharp pains in his ribs led him to believe that they were fractured, and Ms. Xiao Long had dislocated his left arm during her aerial combo. To add insult to injury, his hood had been incinerated by the flames that danced violently around her as she assaulted him, revealing his face to the world.

Feeling his Aura begin to patch the wounds littering his body, he picked himself up from the ground while popping his arm back into place, shrugging off the pain from doing so. His vision was completely obstructed by the dirt floating through the air, but he could sense and pinpoint Ms. Xiao Long's blazing Aura clearly. The woman was possibly his greatest challenge yet. If he was going to even stand a chance against the blonde inferno, then he would need to start engaging her with the intent to kill.

As he slowly reached for the katana sheathed on his back, his Aura had begun to sputter around his body.

This woman was indeed worthy, if she could force his hand like this…

_(Yang)_

Yang had been standing at the ready with her gauntlets ready as her ferocious Aura was still dancing wildly around her. Although she clearly had the upper hand in this battle, she could not afford to let her guard down, even for a second. This guy was giving her a run for her money and more. Not many people could say that they had forced Yang to unleash her Aura like this.

After thirty seconds of patiently waiting for the dust to settle, Yang started to make out a moving silhouette leaving the massive crater. Johansen was walking calmly in her direction without the hood concealing his face and his combat suit was dirtied and ruined.

"_So that's what he looks like…" _Yang thought as she began to inspect the physical appearance of her enemy.

He was as pale as Ruby with spiky, cobalt-blue hair. As Yang had seen earlier, his muscles were well-developed, a testament to the rigorous training he must have endured. But three things had caught the most attention from her concerning her enigmatic adversary. Firstly, his Aura had completely consumed his body in the form of crackling, neon-blue electricity, much like her flames had consumed her. Secondly, a pair of furry and pointy blue wolf ears stood rigidly from the top of his head, revealing him to be a Faunus, much to Yang's surprise. And finally, she was captivated by his electric-blue eyes that seemed to pierce her very soul.

His emotionless…hollow… vacant eyes.

"I must confess, even after observing you for an extended period of time, I still underestimated you. For that, I apologize. Please allow me to make amends, Ms. Xiao Long."

As Johansen's Aura continued to grow, he raised his right hand and fired what appeared to be an electric sphere into the sky above, only for it to disperse. To Yang's astonishment, the sky began to cloud over at an alarming rate. In less than ten seconds, the sky was smothered by an enormous, ominous cloud that allowed very little sunlight to faze through. With an explosion of thunder, a lightning bolt danced across the sky into the horizon, briefly illuminating the area.

Yang, to put it lightly, was completely baffled. Not only had this guy shook off her last attack like it was nothing, but now he was unleashing more aura then she currently was while summoning a **massive** electrical storm at will. She had to unleash her aura just to do some legitimate damage against him, but he was holding back the **entire** time. That fact alone had intimidated her, although she would never show it.

With a mighty roar, she drastically increased the amount of aura she was expelling, further feeding the raging cyclone of fire circling around her to match the flashing lightning storm her adversary was emitting. She needed to end this as soon as possible. Keeping her Aura unleashed for extended periods of time became more taxing the longer she sustained it.

With flames circling her right fist and fury in her eyes, the cyclone of orange fire charged at the electric storm.

With sparks zipping through his blade and vacancy in his eyes, the blue electric storm sped towards the cyclone of fire.

As the two explosive forces of nature met, Yang's gauntlet had met Johansen's katana in a struggle for dominance as their respective elements continuously obliterated the forest around them. The fist and the blade pushed and shook against one another, neither gaining any ground on the other.

That was, until, Johansen had begun to undergo a horrific change.

His aura had shifted from a blue that was as bright as the evening sky, to a blue that was darker than dusk. The white of his eyes slowly bled into black, and the blue of his irises had been replaced with a glowing crimson red.

The dark electricity clashing against the flames had become twice as ferocious, beating the flames into submission with each flash and crackle.

The force Johansen's katana was pressing against Yang's gauntlet had grown immensely, much to Yang's confusion. This menacing new power that had sprung unexpectedly from her foe amazed and terrified her as she was being pushed back by the blade. With a lightning bolt descending from the dark void above slamming into Johansen, he channeled the foreign electricity into his sword, electrocuting and blasting Yang into the forest howling in pain with her flames destroyed. Her airborne body slammed and destroyed every tree it met, shattering through the points of contact, only for the painful and excruciating cycle to continue onto the next tree. Her body had finally stopped and collapsed onto the grass as she collided with a gigantic tree thick enough to withstand the force of the collision.

Yang had never felt this much pain. Many of her bones were broken, blood oozed through her lips as she coughed, and small sparks of electricity still stung her, forcing a twitch of agony from her with every spark. As dark spots slowly consumed her vision and unconsciousness began to consume her, there was only one thought on her mind.

"_Ru….by…I'm…..sorry…"_

_(Johansen)_

Feeling the darkness begin to recede back into his core, Johansen began to feel his Aura return to its natural state, only for it to disperse. Johansen had never felt this drained before in his life. He could barely stand up on his feet, having to dig his blade into the ground and use it as a crutch. His breath was labored, his muscles screamed in pain, and he was beginning to see double. He would have liked to fall unconscious so that he could rest, but he needed to inform his superiors that he had completed his mission.

He slowly reached into his pocket, pulling out a black scroll that had been customized to resist excess amounts of electricity. Pulling the device open, he began to scroll across his contacts list, stopping at the name "Isaac" and pressing "Call".

_(In the darkness of a hallway)_

As Isaac power walked through the hallway, he could not even begin to fathom how this unexpected boon had come to be. Finding test subjects for his experiments had never been a difficult task. With the invention of his new Beowolf, the amount of test subjects brought in daily increased by a fair amount. But never in his wildest dreams did he think that he could acquire such a valuable specimen.

At first, he didn't think much of the girl. She was only a first-year student at Beacon and didn't look powerful in the slightest. She was only chosen to be captured because he needed a guinea pig with an unlocked Aura and she was alone, but to think that she could stand on equal ground with Johansen and force him into using his Aura. He could hardly believe it when Johansen had called him, giving him a full report of his mission progression. He had finally found what he had been looking for.

He had finally found another specimen strong enough for the transformation.

Having arrived at his destination, Isaac had allowed some of his Aura to seep slowly into the colossal doors in front of him. Immediately after he halted the flow of his Aura, the doors shuddered as they slowly opened, granting him access into the darkness of the throne room. As he walked further into the dark, his eyes slowly adjusted and he began to make out the figure sitting comfortably in the black throne in the center of the room. The figure slowly opened its eyes, revealing a sapphire-blue left eye and a ruby-red right eye.

"_**Isaac, why have you disturbed my slumber…" **_the figure questioned with a dark, transcendent voice.

"My most sincere apologies my Lord, I just wanted to inform you that Johansen has completed his mission. Soon we may have a second Forbidden." Isaac informed as he kneeled on his right knee.

As soon as he finished, Isaac yelped in pain as he felt his entire body tighten as it began to be stretched painfully as if he was tied to a rack. While his arms and legs were being pulled to their limits, he felt himself floating to the figure and stopping when he was directly in front of its face. Isaac found it extremely difficult to breath as fear began to overcome him when he was forced to stare directly into the pools of aloofness and malevolence that were his lord's eyes.

"_**You awoke me from my sleep to deliver me such trivial information? Do you believe me to be so dense that I need to be told the obvious? Do you have a death wish?" **_the voice interrogated calmly.

"B-B-B-But my Lord, I also have news concerning Yagsara! Two other students were sent there to investigate the attack!" Isaac informed, trying desperately to appease the monster before him.

Isaac could feel his throat begin to contract.

"THEIR NAMES ARE ROSE AND ARC!" Isaac screamed through high-pitched wheezing voice, hoping to Dust that the information would convince his Lord to spare his life.

Suddenly, all foreign force on his body vanished as he was dropped on his face at the figures feet. As he greedily inhaled oxygen into his abused lungs, he saw his Lord's eyes widen ever so slightly.

After processing the information presented to it, the figure glared at the wheezing scientist at its feet.

"_**Isaac, send the Beowolves to capture everyone at Yagsara Village, immediately**_." It commanded with ice in its voice.

Still fearful for his life, Isaac questioned, "A-And w-w-what of the two students of B-b-beacon?"

"_**EVERYONE!" **_the voice boomed in rage at the scientist's incompetence.

Isaac could not have ran any faster as he fled from his enraged master, praying that the Beowolves were ready to depart.

After the insect had scuttled away in terror, leaving a faint scent of urine behind, the figure slowly returned to its sleep chuckling sinisterly.

"_**Rose and Arc. How long has it been since I've heard those names?"**_

_(Ruby and Jaune)_

The trek through the forest had been uneventful so far. After landing from their flight on the outskirts of the forest, they immediately began to make their way to Yagsara. Ruby was busy navigating, focusing heavily on the map installed on her scroll while Jaune was directly behind her attentively observing their surroundings with Crocea Mors drawn, ready to defend Ruby if they encountered any Grimm.

"How much farther is Yagsara?" Jaune asked

"It should only be one more mile. We're almost there Jaune!" Ruby answered joyfully with a hop in her step.

As the two continued to walk, Jaune's mind began to fill with thoughts of the red-headed reaper directing him as he watched her. Although he would never admit it, he has harbored a crush for her for the past few months. She was one of the very few people that believed in him, despite all of his shortcomings. Whenever he started having doubts about his efficiency as a huntsman, Ruby would always be there to pick him up and reaffirm his confidence. Jaune often tried to tell her about his feelings for her, but his fear of rejection and ruining their friendship crippled his efforts every time. He also felt completely inadequate compared to her. She was the heroic and brave huntress prodigy that was a force to be reckoned with, and he was just a cowardly and weak no-talented idiot. If she was to find someone to be with romantically, he would want it to be someone deserving of her, not at all like him.

"_She could do so much better than me…" _Jaune dejectedly thought while dropping his head.

"You say something Jaune?" Ruby asked while keeping her eyes on the map.

Jaune flinched in panic, mentally slapping himself for speaking out-loud by mistake.

"Nothing! I didn't…..say…"

"Jaune? Jaaauuunnne? Jaune, what's wrong with you?" She asked, turning around to look at her partner.

Jaune looked horrified. His eyes and mouth were wide open, only stuttering wheezes could escape his mouth.

"Jaune, what's the matter!" Ruby exclaimed, shaking him by his shoulders.

All Jaune could manage to do was raise a trembling finger, pointing behind Ruby.

Following Jaune's index finger, she spun around looking towards the sky. Her face became a complete replica of his.

"Oh no…" she whispered in terror.

Over the hill, rising to the sky, was a gigantic plume of smoke. **Dark smoke.**

Something was burning. Something huge.

And all they could hear in the distance were screams of agony and terror.

The two horror-struck teens bolted the rest of the mile, fuelled by their internal pleading and praying that they were wrong.

They were not.

As soon as they ascended the hill overlooking Yagsara Village, all they could see were the angry flames devouring the village, the fleeing, screaming civilians, and the blood soaked Beowolves hunting them down.

**So…questions, comments, or concerns? Tap that review button! Thanks for reading!**


	3. The Alpha

**This chapter took longer than I thought to publish, but juggling two stories and my schoolwork will do that. Also, I understand I am prone to grammatical errors that I don't notice until I already publish the chapter, and for that, I am sorry. I will go back eventually and fix them. Anyway, here you go faithful readers!**

**Revision: I wasn't satisfied with the small fight.**

Pain.

All Yang could feel or comprehend was pain.

Groaning in agony, Yang groggily awoke and slowly began to open her eyes. She couldn't see anything around her. Wherever she was, it was a dark and cold place. She felt the cold against her entire body with very little resistance, which meant she was almost completely naked, much to Yang's horror. With panic slapping her awake, Yang tried to move around to feel her surroundings, only for her wrists and ankles to remain entirely stationary. Now that she was completely awake, she could feel her arms extended and stretched above her diagonally by rigid, metal structures swallowing her fists. Her legs were no different. They were stretched diagonally and she could feel the cold structures containing her bare feet.

Struggling against the restraints, Yang grunted with effort as she tugged and pulled against them, but they did not budge. She eventually ended her fruitless efforts, conceding to the fact that she wasn't going anywhere.

"_Where the hell am I? How did I get here? I remember fighting Johansen…then he got that weird black Aura…then I passed out."_

As soon as she finished her recollections, she was startled by a blinding light that descended from the ceiling. Finally able to see her surroundings, she noticed that she was in a large room with grey metal walls. There was a silver chair set against the wall she was facing. Other than that, the room was considerably vacant. She couldn't see anything behind her due to her limited mobility. She also inspected her body, disturbed that she was stripped down to her underwear. Her injuries from her fight with Johansen were still there and looked as if they weren't treated at all.

Yang suddenly heard the sliding of an automatic door behind her, followed by the echoing of footsteps. The entrant walked closer to Yang for fifteen seconds (a testament to how large the room was) and past her, choosing to sit on the chair against the wall. The entrant was a skinny and pale man with glasses. He wore a white lab coat, black slacks, and had long, pale blonde hair.

With an ominous snicker, he inspected her with a sadistic grin and with evil in his unsettling white eyes.

"Hello Yang Xiao Long. I see you have awakened." He said with a condescending tone.

Yang immediately wanted to deck this asshole in the nose.

"Who are you!? Why am I here?! What the hell is going on here?!" Yang angrily questioned, pulling against her restraints.

"My name is Ivan Intelligentia, scientist extraordinaire, and you have been chosen by me to become one of my servants." He greeted with a smirk.

Angrily glaring at the grinning scientist sitting before her, she jerked her body aggressively at him.

"It will be a cold day in Hell before I serve you, you sick fuck. Now let me go!"

To Yang's puzzlement, Ivan just laughed insanely at her crude declaration.

"Perhaps you don't fully appreciate the gravity of the situation Xiao Long. You are in no position to be making demands." He said while he rose from his seat.

He slowly reached into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a white scroll, opening it and bringing up an image. Still grinning evilly, he walked up to Yang, shoving the image in her face.

Yang's eyes almost shot out of her skull in astonishment at what she was seeing.

It was a live video feed of Ruby and Jaune in a burning village, back-to-back with their weapons drawn, surrounded by vicious Beowolves.

Ruby and Jaune were not in prime condition. They were both breathing heavily with their bodies littered with cuts and bruises. Their cloth's were ruined and in tatters and were soaking the blood that dripped down their wounds.

"Ruby! Jaune! No!" Yang screamed, fearful for their lives

Ivan closed the scroll with a look of satisfaction on his face.

"In approximately two hours, your sister and your friend will be apprehended and sent to me for experimentation. They will be entirely at my mercy. It would be within your best interests to keep me in a good mood. We would hate for them to suffer more than they have to, now would we?" He said gleefully.

"You motherfucker! I'm gonna fucking kill you, you son of a bitch!" she screamed with fire spiraling around her body while she angrily yanked and tugged against her restraints.

Ivan only smiled and pressed a button on the structure restraining her right arm.

Yang's shrieks of pain soon flooded the room as she was mercilessly electrocuted by her restraints. The electrocution continued for thirty seconds until it finally stopped, leaving Yang breathing heavily and wheezing.

"From this moment on, you will refer to me as "Master", you little tramp. Now before I leave, I will begin the process of your initiation as one of my servants. I expect much from you Xiao Long. I believe your chances of surviving the initiation are exceptionally high. You _did_ almost beat my best tool, Johansen." Ivan said as he was pressing more buttons on her restraints.

The sound of machinery moving soon shuddered through the ceiling, grabbing Yang's attention. A large black needle soon descended from the ceiling and stopped in front of Yang when it was aimed at the center of her chest. The needle was connected to a huge device that was shaped like a gun. The device was connected to two tubes that contained what appeared to be a black and smoky substance.

Observing the machine pointed in her direction that was obviously built with ill intentions, Yang became terrified.

She could only imagine what the sinister device would do to her. She had a feeling she was about to find out.

"You were wondering what kind of power Johansen used against you during your fight?" Ivan said as he walked to the door.

The machine began to glow black with power and began making a high- pitched sound that revealed it was charging.

Yang was trembling in fear.

"You're about to find out." He said sadistically as he slammed the door shut manually.

The needle fired a black beam into Yang's chest, causing her to scream bloody murder as her body convulsed. Her body was assaulted with black energy that smothered her body and burned Yang as if she was on fire. She was in so much pain that she had subconsciously activated her Aura, but instead of her trademark orange-yellow flames erupting from her, black and purple fire thrashed violently against her body as she wailed.

And the terrible machine continued to torture Yang as her screams and sobs echoed through the base.

_(Ruby and Jaune)_

"What do we do Ruby?" Jaune whispered to his companion behind him, keeping his focus on the Beowolves surrounding him.

"I don't know, but we need a plan, NOW." She said as she reloaded Crescent Rose.

The battle had not been going in their favor. As soon as the two reached the village, they split up to save as many villagers as they could, but there was only so much the two alone could do against so many enemies. For hours they tried their best to cover the villagers' escape, but whenever they intercepted a Beowolf, two more would take its place and grab the villagers, carrying them away kicking, screaming, and crying. Ruby got so desperate that she ripped her scroll out to call Ozpin for help, but a Beowolf caught her by surprise and swung a blood drenched claw at her. Ruby tried to dodge the surprise attack, but the Beowolf managed to claw her arm and smack the scroll, sending it flying out of her hands into the distance. The two decided that the only course of action that they could take was to try and kill the Grimm as fast as possible, but the Beowolves had proven to be more formidable than the report showed them to be.

Ruby sent barrage after barrage of swipes from her scythe to the Grimm, but they dodged and parried every swing, delivering a clawing counterattack with every missed swing, slicing into Ruby in succession. Ruby did manage to slice one Beowolf's left arm off, but to her astonishment, the damnable canine regenerated its lost limb in a flash of blinding purple light as soon as it lost it.

"What the hell?! That's not possible!" she shouted as she blocked a Beowolf's claw with her scythe.

Frustrated by the enemies' unusual ability, she swiped the Beowolf's claw of off of her and jumped back to get distance from it. Determined to kill the beasts, she dug the blade of her scythe into the dirt to stabilize it. With precision only an experienced sniper could attain, she fired round after round into the Beowolves, reducing their skulls and brains into nothing but red pulp with a series of well-aimed headshots. Confident that she eliminated her share of Beowolves, Ruby yanked her scythe out of the ground and reloaded it, ready to leave and assist her teammate, but immediately froze in horror as she saw the familiar purple glow emit from the corpses of the Beowolves she killed. In yet another flash of light, the Beowolves stood erect and ready with no visible injuries, ready to exact vengeance on Ruby.

Refusing to give up, she readied her scythe once more, determined to find a way to kill the evil monstrosities that seemed to be chuckling ominously, as if they were mocking Ruby for her fruitless endeavor. Taking a deep breath, she fired her scythe to launch herself at the five grinning Beowolves. Attempting to behead them before she succumbed to exhaustion, she swung Crescent Rose at their necks in wide and quick arcs. The first two Beowolves could not react in time and their heads were sent flying into the flames of a burning building, but the other three dodged her attacks, clawing her on her back as she passed them. Gritting her teeth in pain as she felt the vertical slashes covering her back, fired another volley of Dust rounds into the chests of her enemies. With one final burst of speed, she slammed the blunt end of Crescent Rose into the Beowolves, sending them flying into the same flames she sent the decapitated skulls.

Any hopes for a battle won were instantly shattered as she covered her eyes to shield them from yet another flash of light from the corpses.

"This isn't working. I'd better retreat for now." She whispered in frustration as she grabbed her injured arm.

But before she even took a step away from the resurrected canines, she was sent flying by one that snuck behind with a blood crusted claw.

Jaune was doing much worse than Ruby as he engaged the monsters. He tried his best to damage them, but every missed attack was punished with a claw backhanding Jaune into a building. He tried to block every assault with his shield, but whenever he blocked an attack, a Beowolf would flank him and hit him from behind, sending him tumbling into another Beowolf. Being the predators that they were and seeing as how Jaune wasn't an immense threat to them, they simply toyed with their prey, amused at how weak the blonde knight was compared to his partner. Feeling slightly angered by the Beowolves blatant amusement by his struggles, he charged the closest Beowolf with speed he didn't know he was capable of. Sensing a change in the knight, the Beowolf leaped at him with an overhead swipe from its claws, but Jaune anticipated the swipe and dodged to his left, digging Crocea Mors into the Beowolf's skull as he ran to the next Beowolf. Unfortunately, before he could even touch the next Beowolf, he was clawed on his right side after being distracted by a flash of purple light. As he clutched his bleeding side, he was astonished that the Beowolf that clawed him was the exact same Beowolf he killed seconds ago.

"_They can regenerate! How-" _

Before he could finish his thoughts, he was slammed in his ribs once again by the Beowolf, sending him flying through the air screaming into a building.

As Jaune flew into the building, he noticed Ruby's unattended scroll lying next to him after he landed in a heap of debris.

Huffing through the pain of movement, he reached over and pressed the button that sent an S.O.S to Beacon, assuming Ruby didn't get the chance to. As he spat a glob of blood onto the floor, he collected himself and wobbled back to the fight, praying that help would arrive in time. As soon as he caught sight of a Beowolf, he swung his blade at it hoping to at least damage it. With minimal effort on its part, it dodged his attack and punched him in his stomach, robbing Jaune of his breath and sending him airborne again.

Jaune could have swore that he heard the monsters laughing as he flew across the fiery battlefield.

Ruby and Jaune were eventually sent flying into one another by their respective foes. After they regained their bearings from their mid-air collision, they jumped up back-to-back, bleeding and dizzy from their punishment and surrounded by the growling fiends.

As the Beowolves circled around them, growling and barking with blood dripping from their fangs and claws, Jaune noticed one of them standing attentively on top of a building observing their predicament. It looked unusually clean and its breathing was completely neutral, meaning it had probably not even engaged either of the hunters, unlike the others.

"Ruby, that Beowolf, I don't think it's attacked us the entire fight." Jaune said, pointing to the creature atop the building. Ruby observed the beast for a few seconds before her eyes widened in recognition and surprise.

"That's the Alpha Beowolf, the pack leader." Ruby whispered, careful not to give the monsters surrounding them a reason to pounce.

"_That doesn't make any sense. The Alpha should be at the front of the attack, even if it is intelligent. Why would it sit calmly away from the fight?" _Jaune thought.

With his eyes narrowed and darting between the Beowolves and the Alpha, he began to formulate a hypothesis. Using the skills taught to him by Pyrrha, he channeled his Aura and jumped over the Beowolves and the building, towards the Alpha. As he swung Crocea Mors at the Alpha's neck, he noticed its red eyes glow purple for a split second. The Alpha barked and before the blade touched it, and Jaune was sent careening through the air by most of the Beowolves as they all interrupted his attack and swiped him away from their leader into the distance.

"Jaune! No!" Ruby screamed as she dodged the rest of the Beowolves, speeding towards the direction that Jaune flew in.

After speeding through a maze of buildings, she somehow escaped her vicious pursuers and began to search for her injured friend. She eventually found a building that the flames had not touched yet. It had a large hole in its ceiling that still had dust rising from it, meaning that it was freshly made.

"_Oh no, please be okay…"_ she thought as she ran to the building.

As she blurred into the building in a flurry of rose petals, she stopped in front of a pile of debris and began to dig through it. It was difficult for her to see since the only illumination in the room was the moonlight leaking in through the hole in the ceiling. As soon as she saw Jaune's bruised face, she immediately grabbed him and yanked him out of the pile and began to pick up his bleeding form.

"Jaune, are you ok?! Why did you do that?!" she screamed as she supported him.

"Ruby, it's the Alpha! We gotta kill the Alpha!" Jaune said, clutching his bleeding side.

"What are you talking about?" Ruby questioned as she slowly let Jaune stand on his own, keeping her hands at the ready in case he fell.

"That's why the Beowolves are so intelligent! Actually, I don't think they're intelligent at all; the Alpha is just controlling them."

"But how?" she asked as she tilted her head, skeptical about her friend's far-fetched theory.

"I don't know, but I saw its eyes glow purple as soon as it barked and the Beowolves intercepted me."

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise at Jaune's observation.

"Wait, "purple"? I've killed them at least twice, but every time I do, they just reappear in a flash of purpl light. Do you think the Alpha's responsible for that too?" Ruby asked.

"Exactly, we have to find a way to kill it, ASAP. Come on, let's go!" He said with uncharacteristic determination as he took a step forward, but immediately collapsed in the middle of the step with an unmanly yelp of pain as his legs buckled. Anticipating this, Ruby dashed towards him and caught him before he hit the ground.

"Jaune, you're in no condition to fight! Lay down" she scolded.

She was not exaggerating when she reprimanded him. His left ribs were broken, his right arm was dislocated, and his right ribs were bleeding profusely. It amazed Ruby that her crush was still even standing, and just chocked it up to his unusually large reserve of Aura.

As she forced Jaune to lie down on his back, she untied her trademark hood and folded it into a neat square, putting it behind Jaune's head to be used as a pillow. Normally she would never use her beloved hood in such a manner, but her worry for Jaune destroyed her desire to keep her hood clean.

"_The damn thing's torn up anyway…" _she dejectedly thought as she ripped pieces of her skirt off and pressed them against Jaune's bleeding side.

"_Come on Jaune, think!" _Jaune thought in frustration.

"_Okay, I can't fight, but Ruby can. She's also the faster one, so she can close in on the Alpha if she can get past all the minors. But how can she get past all of them without getting intercepted. They'll probably simultaneously jump her…" _

Jaune's eyes immediately widened in a stroke of genius, recalling a memory of one of Cardin's actions against him.

"Ruby, I have an idea! But it's risky. **Very **risky, but if it works, we'll be able to end this fight. If it fails, then were as good as dead. You up for it?" He said as he slowly got up, feeling his aura begin to patch him up.

"Jaune, in case you haven't noticed, were not exactly in a position to be picky about our options, so what's the plan?" she asked as she tied her hood around her neck again, not at all disturbed by the barely visible blood soaking it.

"I'm gonna go ahead of you. Wait for my signal. They should be surrounding the building soon since they have our scents." He said as he limped off to pick up Crocea Mors and his shield, and then looked in Ruby's direction with a contemplative look on his face.

She noticed that Jaune was staring heavily at Crescent Rose in its compact form as it rested on her hip, much to Ruby's confusion.

"What's wrong?" she asked

He immediately looked up to Ruby with a grin on his face.

"Ruby, can you use that with one hand?"

_(Ozpin)_

Ozpin was more worried than he had been in a long time. He was so worried that he couldn't properly focus on his paperwork, despite almost completing it. He hadn't heard from the two students he sent away this morning, despite specifically telling them to keep him updated on their progress as soon as they reached Yagsara, but he had yet to hear from either of them. They were supposed to call over three hours ago. He tried to call them on his scroll twice over the past hour, but nobody answered, much to Ozpin's displeasure.

Deciding to try calling again later, he finished his last page of paper work, ready to collect his personals, retire to his room, and fall asleep in his bed with a good book.

That was, until his scroll started beeping.

After the second beep, Ozpin immediately slammed his pen down on the desk, ripped the scroll out of his pocket, and pulled it open.

He almost dropped it in shock when he saw the flashing red "S.O.S" on the center of the screen.

He mashed the S.O.S with his index finger and an image of Ruby's yearbook picture popped up, showing whose scroll sent the emergency call. Underneath the picture was the location in which her scroll was transmitting the S.O.S.

_**Yagsara**_

Professor Ozpin has always been admired for his ability to retain a relaxed demeanor, and his calm, rational personality. These qualities are the reason he has ascended to his role as headmaster of Beacon Academy. However, as rational and collected as Ozpin is, he is only human. He is still entitled to moments of weakness like any other man.

This was one of those moments.

Not even a half-second after he finished reading the location, he disappeared in a blur of green and silver, dashing through the hallways while hastily typing a message on his scroll.

_**From: Ozpin**_

_** Meet me at the fountain in Central Vytal IMMEDIATELY! Ruby is in trouble!**_

_** To: Qrow**_

_(Yagsara)_

The Beowolves had been patiently waiting for their prey to leave the building as they surrounded it. If they tried to leave through any hole, window, or door, the canines would instantly pounce them. It was only a matter of time before they either tried to engage them or escape. They hoped that the weak blonde one would try to leave first. His blood was the sweetest.

As the Beowolves focused their attention fully on the building, Jaune had been sneaking behind the building the Alpha Beowolf was perched on.

"_Okay, here we go…" _He nervously though as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a flare gun.

All nervous thoughts were replaced with happy nostalgia as he looked at the white pistol in his hand.

"_You were right…" _he thought with a smile on his face.

_(One month ago)_

"_Ooh, ooh, ooh, open my present next Jaune!" Nora excitedly said as she jumped up and down on her bed._

"_Okay Nora, just calm down!" Jaune said through a fit of laughs as he started opening the present in his lap._

_Today was Jaune's eighteenth birthday, and so far the day was filled with birthday food, party blowers, and birthday punches; courtesy of Yang. Currently, he was in JNPR's dorm with his teammates, Velvet, Sun, and team RWBY. Much to his surprise, all of his friends planned a birthday party for him behind his back. To say he was baffled when he walked into his dorm to all his friends screaming "SURPRISE!" was an understatement. He had received one present from each of them and had begun opening them after they were done eating birthday cake. So far, he received a bottle of high-quality cologne from Ren, a book called "Ninjas of Love" from Blake, and from Ruby he received an Xbox 360 and a complete set of the Halo series._

_He never remembered telling her exactly what he wanted for his birthday, but was extremely grateful that his secret crush spent so much money on him. _

"_Wow…thanks Nora…for…the pancakes." He said with confusion as he picked up a syrup soaked pancake as it dripped into the box._

"_You're welcome!" she sang as she hugged Jaune._

_As he looked to the colorful pile of unopened presents, he grabbed the present wrapped in shiny red wrapping paper and a yellow ribbon. This one was from Pyrrha._

"_Thanks Pyrrha!" he said as he began to tear the wrapping paper to shreds._

"_You're very welcome Jaune." She replied from his side with a smile._

_He opened the box and a look of awe found his face as he pulled a pistol from the box._

"_You got me a pistol? Wow, thanks!" he said gratefully as he gently put it back into the box._

"_Actually, Jaune, it's a flare gun." She corrected_

_Unfamiliar with the use of flare guns, or guns period, he asked Pyrrha, "How do I use it?"_

_With a chuckle, she answered, "I'll teach you methods on how to use it, as well as the situations you may find yourself in need of one. I sure you'll find it very useful."_

_As he opened his next present that was from Sun, Yang, and Blake, he was horrified at the contents of the box._

_A stack of pornographic magazines, a box of tissues, and a bottle of lotion._

"_Guuuuuyyyyysss!" he complained/screamed in embarrassment as Yang and Sun were on the floor laughing and high-fiving one another while Blake snickered as she hid her face with her book._

_(Present)_

"_Thanks Pyrrha." _ He thought with a smile as he aimed the gun into the air and fired, launching a white firework into the air that lit the night sky. He immediately began to run/limp to his planned destination, hoping his plan would work.

The explosion of light in the air instantly caught the predators' attention, causing them to divert their attention away from the building and to the sky as it was illuminated by the white ball. Even the fragmented moon was overshadowed by the explosion of light.

As soon as the Beowolves turned their backs, Ruby immediately dashed out of the building, streaking towards the Alpha in a storm of rose petals with Crescent Rose in her right hand and Jaune's shield in her left. Her window of opportunity was short, as some of the less distracted Beowolves dashed to intercept Ruby. Anticipating this, she smacked them away with Jaune's shield, losing very little momentum as she did so. The Alpha sensed the hooded menace flying at him and dodged the slice from her that would have beheaded it, and then began to jump from building to building in an attempt to flee from her. Ruby was hot on its tail, dodging and blocking any interruptions from the minor Beowolves and the flames eating the buildings. Feeling the loss of speed as she tried to catch up to her target, she started firing Dust rounds behind her, drastically increasing her speed and velocity.

She was so close; she just needed to keep chasing it for a little longer.

The Alpha Beowolf sensed that the hooded menace was getting closer and closer as it ran and panted, and began to bark rapidly, signaling its underlings to intercept her. The Beowolves immediately caught up to their master and all jumped towards her from all frontal directions, confident that she couldn't dodge all of them.

"_NOW!" _ She thought as she threw the shield with all of her strength past all of the Beowolves. The shield sailed through the air until it was caught by Jaune, who was waiting on top of a building for the Beowolves and Ruby to run in his direction.  
Ignoring the pain of his injuries, he roared as he jumped past the Beowolves, towards Ruby.

"NOW" he screamed as Ruby grabbed him and used him to shield her from the Beowolves' attack.

In a blinding pulse of white light, Jaune's aura wrapped around him as Ruby used him as a shield and the Beowolves were sent flying in the opposite direction from which they came as they hit him, howling in pain as they collided with many buildings.

With the minors gone, Jaune rolled over Ruby's head, planted his feet on her back, and pushed Ruby forward with all the strength left in his legs as he tumbled across a rooftop, giving Ruby the burst of speed she needed to catch the Alpha.

Screaming as she finally caught up behind her target, she hooked the blade of Crescent Rose around the Alpha's neck, pulled the trigger, and decapitated the roaring monster as they flew through the air.

Intent on stopping her flight, she dug Crescent Rose into a ceiling top and pulled against it, digging a large slash across it as she began to lose speed. After finally coming to a stop, she immediately sped in the direction of the other Beowolves, wanting to see if Jaune's hypothesis was correct.

She stopped on a burning building as she noticed a Beowolf on the same ceiling as her convulse on the floor as purple electricity smothered its body.

"RUBY! KILL THEM NOW! THEY'RE LOSING THEIR POWER! DO IT NOOOOOWWW!" Jaune screamed over the roaring flames, waving his arms from a building one block away.

Ruby wasted no time as she started decapitating the Beowolf. As soon as she killed, the rest joined her on the ceiling, charging her head on foolishly.

"_Just like normal Beowolves. __**Perfect.**__" _She grinned as she reloaded her scythe.

The tables turned comically as she began to decimate the beasts that charged her. With little difficulty, she began to amputate and decapitate the monsters as they threw themselves at her, dodging every swing they threw at her and slicing off the limbs they used to attack her.

Aiming to end this fight, she smacked a Beowolf aside as it charged her and leapt into the air, firing Crescent Rose to gain more altitude. As soon as she reached the peak of her jump, she fired her scythe again, increasing her descent as she began to spin. With one mighty, momentum-driven swipe, she pressed a button on Crescent Rose, extending the blade, and sliced all of the Beowolves clean in half.

As happy as she was that they had finally defeated the ferocious beasts, she knew they didn't have time to celebrate her victory as the flames began to surround her. As she jumped over the flames, she sped towards Jaune, grabbed him by his arm, and began a mad dash to the forest, dodging the flames that almost devoured them as they grew in size.

"Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap!" Ruby screamed repeatedly as she felt the flames begin to catch up to her.

With a final desperate jump, she leapt across the rest of the flames and into the trees. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she resumed her sprint into the dark forest, not stopping until the flames were a distant flicker of light on the horizon.

_(Ozpin)_

As people walked down the lamp post riddled streets that night, they were startled half to death by the green and silver blur that zoomed across the city streets. Ozpin didn't stop for anything as he rushed to his destination, dodging pedestrians, vehicles, and lamp posts as he ran. However, his marathon came to an abrupt halt as a black-hooded figure zipped in front of Ozpin, grabbed him by the collar of his suit, and slammed him into an alley wall.

"What happened?! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!" The figure screamed as it tugged the hood down its neck, revealing the face of an enraged and distressed middle-aged man. He had ebony black hair that trailed down his back, looking spiky and slightly unkempt. His eyes were a bright crimson that glowed with anger and panic.

"I don't know Qrow! I just received an S.O.S from Ruby, meaning that they are in a dangerous situation that prevents them from calling me directly. I can't say for sure what is wrong, but I need you to calm down and get us to their location." Ozpin said quickly while trying to pry his distressed friend's hands off of him.

After taking a few seconds to gain control of his breathing, he threw his hands off of Ozpin, massaging his temples in an attempt to soothe the migraine that developed from his nerve-wracking concern for his beloved niece.

"Where is she?" Qrow asked calmly, trying to keep his temper in control.

After dusting off his suit, he reached into his pocket for his scroll. He pulled up his GPS that displayed a map with a blinking red dot in the center, showing where S.O.S was coming from.

"Yagsara? What is she doing in Yagsara?" He asked while focusing on the map, making sure to commit every detail to memory.

"I'll explain on the way. Please hurry." Ozpin replied.

"You'd better." He commanded with ice in his voice.

With no other words to be said at the moment, Ozpin put a firm grip on Qrow's shoulder as Qrow brought his hands together. With strong thoughts of the map and the S.O.S, he focused his Aura into his mind.

In a puff of black smoke, Ozpin and Qrow vanished into thin air, leaving only multiple plumes of black feathers in their wake.

_(In the Forest)_

"_Have you located the targets yet Viridus?" _Ivan questioned impatiently through the scroll.

"Relax Poindexter, I'm working on it." he replied snarkily as he calmly strolled through the moon-lit forest.

"_How dare you?! I am your superior! You will no-"_

"You will not speak to me such a manner, even though I distract you with **boring **and unnecessary calls blah blah blah blah blah." Viridus interrupted, mocking Ivan with a terrible impersonation of his voice.

"_Listen hear you disrespectful green ass, I am this close to-"_

"Weeeelllll this was a very informative and enlightening conversation, but I have better things to do than listen to you nag like the woman you wish you were. Bye-bye!" he interrupted again while raising his middle finger at the scroll, wishing that the annoying the scientist could see it.

"_Wait-"_Ivan commanded before being forcefully disconnected as Viridus turned his scroll off.

"I swear to Dust that I'm going to freaking kill him one day." Viridus whispered to himself as he continued his search.

As long as Viridus could remember, he could not recall one time that he didn't want to cave Ivan's skull in with a hammer. He was always ordering him around like he was his pet, and it infuriated him to no end knowing that he couldn't do anything about it past his smart remarks. The only person he knew that tolerated Ivan's aggravating mannerisms was Johansen, probably because the kid had too little emotion to even feel irritation. To this day, Viridus never understood why the leader kept the infuriating scientist around.

As Veridus entertained himself with thoughts of murdering his superior, he stopped mid-step as he noticed a subtle, but fresh, trail of blood dots to his right. Whoever left it was clearly in a rush if they didn't take time to stem the bleeding. Viridus could safely assume that his targets were at the end of it.

"_Well then, that took a lot less time than I thought." _He thought as he followed the trail, smirking in anticipation of fighting the two kids that seemed to trouble his leader so much.

"All right Rose and Arc; let's see what makes you so special." He whispered, unsheathing the dual hooks from his back with a wicked gleam in his spring-green eyes.

**Any questions, comments, concerns, or helpful advice, let me know guys! Epic fight next chapter!**


End file.
